02 December 2014

KINGDOM HEARTS 3 May Include Star Wars, Marvel Characters

In an interview in London today, Tai Yasue
(co-director and game designer on Kingdom Hearts 3 and the Kingdom
Hearts 1.5/2.5 HD remasters) told us that nothing was off-limits for the
upcoming Square-Enix/Disney crossover – including Marvel and Star Wars,
both of which are acquisitions that Disney has made in the nine years
since Kingdom Hearts 2 came out.
“Yeah, I can’t go into specifics, but there’s a LOT of new Disney stuff
and we have our plates full,” said Yasue. “Theres a lot to consider -
we’re looking at all of Disney, the new ones as well, they have a lot of
pull and draw.

“We have to come up with a world that has a lot of originality. We want
variety in our new Kingdom Hearts, so we don’t want too many of one sort
of world, that would look the same. For each world there has to be some
meaning for it, in the plot; in Birth By Sleep, for instance, in the
Cinderella scene, the characters learn something specific by relating to
Cinderella. Also, gameplay-wise, is that world something that would
make gameplay fun? There’s a lot I can’t say, but there’s so much to
consider.”

When I asked whether I could safely infer that that Star Wars and Marvel
are not off-limits, Yasue confirmed that they are being considered.
“Well, yeah. They’re all under consideration,” he said. “Nothing’s
off-limits, we’re considering all of the worlds. There are so many
wonderful concepts. We’re happy about that, but at the same time it’s
really tough to choose.”